Reverse role models

 I know who Aaron Rodgers is now, unless he's Clint Eastwood's snarly Walt Kowalski from "Gran Torino." He's Leon.

You remember Leon, right?

Leon was the archetypal me-first athlete in those old Budweiser ads, the guy who says this in one of the spots. In one of those moments when life imitates art, it's remarkably similar to what Rodgers said this week about the Packers woeful loss to the Washington Commanders.

He went on Pat McAfee's radio show and said, right off, that he got the highest grade he's gotten all season from quarterbacks coach Tom Clements. The implication was you couldn't blame HIM for what happened. It was all those goobers around him.

"A couple of missed throws, but ... we're behind the sticks, you know," he went on to say, absolving himself again. "It's second-and-20, third-and-25, way too many penalties. Way too many drops."

Now, Rodgers defenders will likely say that's just a leader holding everyone accountable for their play. But it's also a leader separating himself from his teammates. In Aaron's world, HE was being accountable. The problem is no one else was.

This is the part where the Blob is compelled to say, "Kids, don't try this at home."

There are role models, see, and there are also reverse role models. Rodgers has become the latter. And so if you've got a kid who's his team's quarterback -- a leadership position like few others -- you say "Don't be like Aaron Rodgers." You say, "As quarterback and leader, when you lose you take the blame in public and hold your teammates accountable in private. You don't do what Aaron Rodgers does." 

Because, listen, Rodgers has been griping publicly about his young receivers all season, which is not likely to help their confidence. He should be mentoring them instead of hectoring them. But apparently that's not who he is.

Apparently, at almost 39, he really has become Walt Kowalski, a crotchety old man shaking his bony fist at those damn kids who keep dropping balls on his lawn and screwing up his stat line. And of course he's become Leon -- who in another Bud spot responds to "There's no 'I' in team" by saying "There ain’t no 'we' either."

Nor is there an "Aaron," it seems.

Today's lesson on how not to do it, kids.